Process for facilitating the removal of roots of stumps.



PATENTED JUNE 5, 1906.

' M. A. FRY.

PROCESS FOR FACILITATING THEREMOVAL OF ROOTS OP STUMPS.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 19. 1996.

(hung 6 UN ITED STATES PATENT OFFICE. Mason A: RY, or sEATTLn'wAsmn eroN; PROCESS FOR mum/mus THE REMOVAL or ROOTS OF- swings.

Ton/ll whom, it may concern:

Be it known that 1,)IASON A. FRY, a citizen of the United States of America, and a resident of the city of Seattle, in the county of King and S ate of Washington, have'invented certain 1 ew and useful Improvements in Processes for Facilitating the Removal of Roots of Stumps, of which the following is a specification. Y

My invention relates to an im roved process for facilitating the remova of roots of st'umpsgand the primary object thereof is to provide a novel process by means of which fire will be carried down into the roots of the stump and caused to burn said roots asunder, thereby freeing the stump.

The drawing is a view in perspective, showing my improved "process carried on in connection with a plurality of stumps, the stump in the foreground being shown in partial section. 4

The method now usually practiced for freeing a stump by chopping away its'roots, so that said stump can be removed and its roots can be separately removed by means of grapples or other suitable contrivances, is tedious and unsatisfactory, as the dirt has to be first excavated from about the roots, and in dealing with large stumps-as, for example, those of fir-trees-itds almost impossible to reach the tap or other large inner roots.

My invention therefore aimsto provide an" improved process by whichstumps can be effectively freed from their roots with a saving of labor and expense.

Incarrying out my process a stump to be" operated upon (indicated by reference-nu-' meral 1) is provided with an opening 2 of suitable diameter, which preferablyextends di rectly over the root (shown as the'tap-root) desired to besevered. A body 3 of refractory material, preferably of iron, which has been heated to ahigh temperature, is then inserted into-the openihg,.and a' blast of air is then directed onto-and about the body 3 to promote combustion. .Now, as is obvious, the wood beneath and around the body 3 will catch fire, and such fire being fanned by the blast of air will completely envelop the body 3, and thereby keep it at red heat, and as the wood beneathv the body 3 burns away said body will fall by gravity and gradually burn a hole down into the,underlying root. When body 3 moves a little lower than is shown in the stump in the foreground in the drawing,

Specification of Letters Patent. Application filed March 19, 1906. Serial in. 306,915.

'low the surface of the Patented June 5, 1906.

the fire will burn completely through the walls of the root, and thereby sever' it from the stump. Large roots can be severed at eighteen inches or more below the surface of the ground, and in such instances it is obviously unnecessary to afterward remove the' remainder of the roots, as they are too far beground to interfere with the tilling thereof.

Other holes, as 2, are formed in the stump, as is found necessary to effect severance of the other large roots thereof, and heated metal bodies 3, corresponding to the body 3, placed in these holes and the combustion maintained as in the operation explained in connection with the severing of the tap-root.

By my process it will be observed that after a fire has been started in one stump the operator can also start fires in-one or more other stumps within a reasonable area, the bodies 3, as-heretofore explained, carryingv the fire to the desired points without requiring any attention of the operator.

The means for supplying air to. the several fires in the stumps consists of a suitable blower 4, pipes 5, leading therefrom, and

nozzles 6. These nozzles are elongated and adapted to be inserted into the openings of the stump, they being of less diameter than said openings, so that spaces thereabout will be provided throu h-which the smoke and stump, accordingto the progress of said bodies. Inthe drawing the stump in the backgroundis shown as just having had a body 3 inserted in the opening 2 thereof and the nozzle 6 about to .be inserted to direct a blast of air thereon, while the stump in the foreground is shown as having two fires therein, which have been burning for a consider- 7 able period of time, so that the bodies 3 are considerably belowithe openings 2 2, and the nozzles 6 have been moved into the stump, so as to maintain the proper relation between them and saidbodies.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States of America, 1s

1. The herein-described process which consists in arrangin a hot body formed of refractory'materia in an opening in a stump,

said body beingfree to move by gravity, and said body heated sothat it will burn its 'way directing a blast of air into the fire about said down into the root and set fire to the same. 10 body. I Signed at Seattle, Washington, this 6th 2. The herein-described process for severday of March, 1906. t

5 ing a root from a stump by burning, which MASON A. FRY.

consists in placing a; heated body of refrao- Witnesses: tory material in the stump, said body being STEPHEN A. BRooKs, free to move by gravity, and maintaining ARLITA ADAMS. 

